RAIL fanatic Eddie Knorn's beloved train has been shunted off his garden.

Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council chiefs told Eddie, 41, he must move the 101 diesel multiple unit because it was distracting passing drivers.

Despite the council being labelled 'killjoys', the 58ft carriage has been lifted from its length of track at his Chester road cottage at Wardle to go to the Midland Railway Museum in Derbyshire.

He said: 'It looks a bit naked outside where the carriage used to be. I'm very annoyed the council officers took the view they did.

'They told me I had not applied for planning permission and that if I did it would be refused, so I was never going to be allowed to keep it.

'When it got moved one of the locals came along just to commiserate, saying the council are killjoys and that they had won.'

A rail worker for the past 20 years, Eddie moved from Cambridgeshire to South Cheshire in April, to be at the heart of the country's railway industry, paying around £3,000 to transport the train.

He has now paid in the region of £10,000 to move it around the country.

He added: 'I just wanted to share my hobby with others. It was sat close to the line where it used to operate so it was fitting to have it in my garden. That was its spiritual home.'

Eddie will now help to restore the carriage.

He said: 'I'm hoping that the carriage will be trundling up and down a railway line at the museum soon.'

Rail car restoration specialist Stuart Mackay, who is based at the museum, said: 'Eddie's carriage will be involved in a major restoration project. We have it on a two-year loan where it will be coupled with other units and used on the Midland Railway Butterley line which visitors can ride in.'..SUPL: